Chapter 23 Huo Fen Becomes A Prisoner
Huo Fen is a small merchant from Western Yan, the biggest vassal state of the Phoenix Empire.
It used to be an independent kingdom ruled by Feng Clan but because of a certain incident more than ten years ago, it became the part of Phoenix Empire and was currently ruled by the Ji clan, which is one of the twelve major noble clans.
He used to travel places in Western Yan and buy specialties at a town and sell in the capital city for small-time profits.
To make larger profits, one day, he decided to venture outside of Western Yan to sell the things native to Western Yan in Imperial city.
However, he didn't expect that his first experience outside his homeland would almost turn into horror with bandits obstructing his path.
Thankfully, two adventurers passed that area by coincidence and saved him.
There, he got enamored with the never-seen weapon in his homeland.
After buying pistols from Mark, he sold the rest of his things at the market and started to return.
Originally, he wanted to go alone but remembering his previous experience with the bandits, he decided to hire a few adventurers.
However, upon visiting the Adventurer Association, Huo Fen realized that adventurers are really expensive.
Then, a passerby Adventurer told him that there's a caravan full of 32 members that were traveling to Western Yan, the next day morning.
He enquired about it and learned that it is accompanied by a team of five adventurers of which everyone is in a 2-circle realm.
He went to the Caravan counter and paid cheap transportation plus a protection fee of 5 silver coins.
After resting in a cheap inn for the night, he joined the caravan and set out for his homeland as soon as the sun rose.
Everything went well for a few hours. As they crossed a small forest, There's even an attack by bandits on the way and were dealt with quickly.
However, he didn't expect real trouble has arrived as soon as they reached the Kunyu mountain range, which almost acts as a natural barrier against the rest of the Empire.
As they entered the valley of Kunyu, the caravan was once again attacked by bandits. However, this time, they were sheer in number and there were a lot of spirit warriors in this gang too.
An intense battle emerged between the guardians and the bandits.
Some people run away to escape. They were chased by bandits to kill.
Others decided to surrender and stayed still, waiting for the outcome between 25 bandits and five adventurers.
Huo Fen knew that if the adventurers get defeated, then, his goods will be stolen away and they were more important than his life.
He opened two boxes from the cart. One is full of bullets and the other had a pistol. It took a while for him to load it.
From the distance, he aimed at one of the nearest bandits who were filled with injuries.
He clicked the trigger.
*Bang*
A loud sound echoed throughout the surroundings and made everyone flinch in surprise. Huo Fen himself appeared to be shocked, not because of the sound but because of an adventurer fighting for them let out a piercing scream as his upper right arm was injured and blood started to trickle down.
The bullet was too fast for anyone to see it. Even the victim just thought it was probably the attack of one of the bandits. Only Huo Fen knew that he misfired.
What shocked him is that the bullet indeed managed to injure a two-circle realm warrior.
Huo Fen got a little bit confident on the weapon in his hands. This time, in order to not injure an ally, he aimed at the group of bandits that surrounded another adventurer.
He clicked the trigger once again and involuntarily closed his eyes.
*Bang*
Once again, a loud sound similar to that of an explosion in the surroundings scared everyone a little bit.
As Huo Fen opened his eyes, the bullet pierced the side of a 1-circle realm bandit's neck, instantly killing him in the process.
While his death made the others into a little bit of confusion, a couple of bandits saw a strange weapon in Huo Fen's hands where smoke was generating from the edge of its barrel.
A bandit dashed towards Huo Fen with his sword as he reloaded one.
Looking at the incoming attacker, the merchant realized that the target was probably himself.
He aimed at the bandit's head and quickly clicked the trigger for the third time.
*bang*
*Argh…*
Suddenly, the bandit screamed as he caught his private part where blood changed his pants into red color.
"Eh?" Huo Fen was a little bit surprised that his attack misfired once again but still took care of the enemy.
p
As the pistol flew away from his hands and fell on the ground, Huo Fen looked for it, instead of taking another from the box. By the time the merchant found it, he was already surrounded by three bandits.
"It's over." Huo Fen knelt on the ground by closing his eyes to embrace death. He felt like he fought bravely.
Just as one of the bandits was about to strike him down, a deep voice was heard from above. "Qiu Kang, leave him alone."
The three bandits looked towards the source of the voice and knelt on the ground before leaving to finish the remaining three adventurers.
Huo Fen then raised his head but he found no one.
In the end, including Huo Fen, 15 were taken as prisoners. All of the boxes were taken away by the bandits while he was taken to their hideout along with other prisoners with his eyes covered by a cloth.
When he opened his eyes, what appeared before him is a street full of houses and people are roaming here and there.
"Is this a bandits' village?" he wondered.
He doesn't know where he was for all he could see steep hills and rocks around everywhere.
The bandits took the goods somewhere while he and his fellow prisoners were taken to a dim-lit underground place where there are cells filled with people.
This new batch was thrown into one of the empty cells.
He sat in a corner dispiritedly like others and got busy with self-blaming. "I should have hired higher realm adventurers. Those 10 gold coins cost me a hefty price."
True to his occupation, he was disappointed that his goods were stolen away instead of caring about his current situation.
However, just after a few minutes, a bandit arrived at the cell and grabbed him, "Our leader wants to meet you. Come."
As soon as he arrived at the hall that was filled with bandits, he found some of them, especially the middle-aged ones quite familiar, although he couldn't put his finger on it.
However, just as he saw the person sitting on a throne, Huo Fen was stunned in shock. "Prince Wu?"
***
Two weeks passed away in a blink of an eye;
Genesis Weapon store, Imperial city;
"Thank you for the purchase." Mark bowed with a smile as he handed over a box with a Single-shot pistol and twenty bullets to a customer in exchange for 7 gold coins.
As the customer left, Mark took his seat and nodded in satisfaction. "After improving my luck by one point, everything seems to be going well."
Right then, a carriage stopped before the entrance of the store and a lady stepped outside of it.
The people in the neighborhood started to whisper among themselves as she walked into the store.
As soon as Mark saw her, his facial expression changed immediately, "Oh, boy. I guess it's time to close down the store."
Allen went ahead to greet her, "Welcome to Genesis, Ms. Lin"
Lin Xue took out her sword and pointed at him, "It's sparring time, Allen. Let's go."